Mage Knight: Apocalypse review

Mage Knight: Apocalypse brings the tabletop game system to the PC. Fans might be disappointed that more factions aren't playable, but character customization is easily Apocalypse 's strong suit. Choose from one of five guardian types - Vampire, Draconum mage, Elven paladin, Amazon, or Dwarf - and you'll find three skill trees for each, filled with active and passive abilities that'll help you survive and slaughter.

In the game's nicest touch, experience points and levels are thrown out in favor of improvement through practice. Cast lots of fire spells and your intelligence will climb higher as you work your way to the fire tree's most powerful offerings. Not locking the player into a particular skillset lends a liberating touch, even if its inconsistency means you'll occasionally gain increases that seem arbitrary.

The forging system lets you customize your hero's gear by dropping magestones into slots, adding elemental damage and other effects. Pack a staff full of ice stones and become a one-man blizzard, or mix types to find special attacks. You could spend considerable time just experimenting, and there's no shortage of equipment lying around to trade in or infuse.